How to pack up a homestead in 1,000 easy steps

The days have been incredible and nights chilly :) Bright dappled sun with a cool breeze each day makes the work inside a bit harder but is still to wonderful not to smile about. The chilly evenings have brought out the shawls and wraps and an extra blankets for the beds. I do so love the Fall.

Well, we went to court last Tuesday and were finished before we began. The house guy was claiming I owed money that I have the receipts and cashed (by him) chicks for, so his lawyer asked for a trial ? Very strange, every bit of it. I had no idea he was saying that i owed him that money, it wasn't in any of the papers I received. I don't intend to try and sue him for anything but I do think he's getting himself into a mess by doing this because now his untruths will come out and he may even be fined for the major repairs he refused to make. Anyway, the trial is set for Oct 12th. What a silly mess it all is.

I started preparing things for packing the day after i got the notice from the sheriff. I stopped packing when I talked to the house guy and he said we could stay for the winter. I started packing again when I talked to his lawyer and he was claiming never to have said that to me.

I'm hoping to have at least 30 days but I got a handbook on the laws and it does say that the judge can order me out within 24 hours if he thinks that it's right. The world is a very strange place. But for now all I can do is pack and search for a new place to call home.

I've moved more times than i can count and altho I'm no professional I do have a system (which i had hoped never to use again) which makes things a bit easier. I start early and start with things we don't use, each day I take things down as i can, clean them, let them dry is damp, then pack them. It makes the packing calmer to do it a little at a time rather than be rushed to pack things quickly when it's time to move. Also, as i clear areas I go ahead and clean them well. I will clean everything again when the house is empty but it will make that cleaning a lot easier to have cleaned as I go now.

I have also set up a plan for moving the goats and poultry, which i might not need depending on where we end up. But it's to move the chicken fortress to the new place, which is safe enough and big enough to safely house the goats and poultry until we get proper pens and houses set up.

Right now it's just a matter of finding a place and getting the Blazer running. Things will work out tho, I am quite sure of it.

I have been asked several times recently how I can just carry on after such things. I don't really know the answer except to say that i love life, I love being alive and I love living. I grew up losing everything on a regular basis. My mother would decide to move and we would leave everything. Most times my younger sister and I got to pack 2 paper grocery bags, 1 with clothes and 1 with toys. My mother would pack her things, a few blankets, a pillow each, food and our cats and dog. Sometimes my sister and I cried for what was left but we always seemed to have what we needed. We started over with nothing again and again and again.



I've been taking an old rag rug with me to milk. The metal chair can get bloody cold to sit on! I've also taken to wiping the milk stand down with a towel after washing it each day. It doesn't get soaked in the washing but this winter the wash water will probably freeze.

The goats are fine, Thistle is a scruffy little thing, they said she is half Saanen and half LaMancha. I can easily see the Saanen but I don't see the LaMancha at all. Maybe the some hair goat or the lovely fuzzy Spanish goats. Who knows. She does give good milk :) Also, her belly is a bit large and the people did say that she was kept with Boer Bucks. I would love it if she was and yet, it's not a very good time.

I'm also moving the once a day milking to around noon. I was going to start her milk twice aday for more milk but with things a bit chaotic I've decided to leave her at one milking until we get settled again. Or, if she is indeed pregnant, I'll stop completely until after she gives birth.

Ivy looks like a show goat. I have Ivy for sale but we'll see if we can keep her. She's as big as Thistle and less than half as old. She'll be a big girl, maybe as big as Anya. I do so miss Anya.

I also had listed the ducks for sale but I'm going to unlist them. There are only the two hens, they are so much fun and, when they start laying, we'll get some fine baking eggs. One of them has taken to pecking at my skirt or pant leg when I milk to ask for milk :)

We've started to put the vegetable garden to bed for winter. I hope whomever lives here next will have a wonderful little garden there. I still have at least half of the mulch stuff I got from the guys who trim the trees for the electric coop. I would love to take it with me but there's little chance of that, we have way to much to move as it is. So I'll we'll pile it onto the garden spots when I've moved all the plants that i can.

Tea orders have picked up a little, which is wonderful! I really need to get that cabin sold so i can get the Blazer to our mechanic. Otherwise, financially I getting things back in balance. It takes me about a year to save 1,000. One of the very few downfalls to living such a simple life. I never buy lottery tickets but maybe I will try one. It's sad and yet understandable that everything come down to money.

I'm looking at several different options. Nik comes first and his need to be near enough to a place that he can continue his what he needs for his career. Which means a small town within 10 or so miles. And he desperately wants some sort of electrical power. I really need that too, for business. And i we need water, preferably a good well with pump. Otherwise I'm hoping for a sturdy cabin, cottage, farmhouse with at least 1/2 an acre altho i truly want a little more land. I'm also looking at travel trailers/ motor homes to pull onto some land.

I found a wonderful little house in Wasola. I found it for sale months ago but it disappeared for awhile. I just found it listed again for half the price. It's owner finance and belongs to some very nice people that Nik and I met a year or so ago. It's a little stone cottage on 3 acres with a little stone barn. We would all love this place very much.

We'll see.

We'll it's 12:12 and I'm off to start some sausage gravy and buscuits.